1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus utilizing certain metal catalysts for improving fuel economy in gasoline and diesel powered equipment, and the methods for using the same. The invention is preferably in the form of an in-line fuel device.
2. Art Background
In recent years a number of products have been brought to the marketplace with claims of improved fuel economy and performance for ignition and compression piston engines.
Catalysts are often incorporated in such products. Dissimilar metal catalysts have been used in oil drilling operations since about 1970. Such dissimilar metal catalysts were used at the well head and minimized the build up of scale and other deposits on the walls of the well head.
Several manufacturers have recently placed in line catalytic products on the market for improving the efficiency of gasoline and diesel engines, which products are believed to be based upon the aforementioned catalyst technology used in the oil drilling operation. There have been claims that such devices can be used on either gasoline or diesel powered vehicles. However, the use of those types of products have not been wide spread because the products currently being produced either do not work at all, or do not work consistently. A device which may show improvement on certain gasoline engines may not show an improvement on other gasoline engines or when used on a diesel engine. The converse is also true, in that a device which works on a diesel engine may not work on a gasoline engine. Few scientific investigations have been conducted to attempt to explain or understand the phenomenon of how these metal catalysts are able to produce the effect seen on the hydrocarbon fuels.
Explanations for how the products function rely mostly upon the theory that the device polarizes the fuel molecules. In some instances the location of the device must be as close as possible to the fuel introduction to the engine as it is believed that the device's effect on the fuel is temporary.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,155 discloses a method for purification of fluids such as water, aqueous fluids and fuel fluids (e.g., gasoline and diesel fuels) by using a solid body alloy in a chamber and passing the fluid to be purified over the solid body alloy and through the chamber. It is stated that such process results in the purification of the fluid and in the case of fuels for internal combustion engines the polluting emissions are reduced because of better combustion and that maintenance costs are lowered. However, this patent does not deal with the effects obtained under certain Reynolds Number conditions nor the unexpected results achieved by recirculation of the fuels as explained in greater detail hereinbelow.
None of the in-line catalysts products of which the applicants are aware produce consistent results in fuel economies of performance on either gasoline or diesel fuels.
Petroleum based fuels are the primary fuels used for automobiles, stationary and mobile diesel powered equipment, jet engines and a wide variety of stationary devices. These lightweight fuels, including gasoline, diesel and kerosene fuels, are composed of blends of refinery stocks. All have three basic hydrocarbon types, namely, saturates (naphthenes and paraffins), olefin and aromatics. Typical mass fractions of these hydrocarbons found in these fuels are given in Table 1.
TABLE 1 __________________________________________________________________________ PROXIMATE ANALYSIS OF LIGHT LIQUID FUELS.sup.1 % MASS DIESELS GASOLINES KEROSENES High iso 100/300 80 Wide Flash Gas octane octane octane cut Aviation Point oil Med __________________________________________________________________________ AROMATICS 0 13.5 14 20.5 7.5 22 24 16 OLEFINS 0 0.5 28 1.5 0.5 0.5 3.5 8 NAPHTHENES 0 14 14 23 29 39 31 28 PARAFFINS 100 72 44 55 63 38.5 41.5 48 __________________________________________________________________________ .sup.1 Gas Turbine Fuels And Their Influence on Combustion J. Odgers And D. Kretschmer, Abacus Press 1986
The percentage of these three hydrocarbon types present in each of the three fuels determine the performance characteristics of these fuels in the respective power generating equipment employing these fuels. For instance, high aromatic content in the fuels used in gas turbines and diesel engines tend to result in smoke emissions and carbon formation in the exhaust gases from these devices, whereas in gasolines, the slow burning aromatics can act to reduce the knocking tendencies of gasoline. In the refining of these fuels catalytic cracking at high temperatures and pressures can be employed to produce the three hydrocarbon types found in these fuels.
None of the prior art, of which applicants are aware, teaches effective and consistent methods to control emissions with the in-line devices on gasoline or diesel engines. Nor does the prior art define the parameters essential to achieving a successful improvement in fuel economy when such a device is installed on a vehicle. The present invention is based upon the chemical changes of the fuels over a wide range of fuel flow, Reynolds Numbers, catalyst composition, catalyst configuration, fuel composition, location of the catalyst in the system and system configurations.
The present invention defines the operating parameters and apparatus essential to achieving increased fuel economy and reduced exhaust emissions on diesel and gasoline engines when a copper/nickel catalyst is utilized with light hydrocarbon fuels.
In the process of the present invention, low temperature reforming using dissimilar metal catalysts is utilized to improve the available fuels by changing the relationship, percentage, of each type of hydrocarbon present in the fuels.